The first of five chapters which address the third sphere, organized labor’s relationship to the wider political community, Chapter 11 explores the development of labor representation outside classic ...
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The first of five chapters which address the third sphere, organized labor’s relationship to the wider political community, Chapter 11 explores the development of labor representation outside classic union structures. Following the weakening of organized labor’s links to political parties and the influx of groups of workers who have no historical ties with the political establishment and in some cases are not even citizens, workers are finding new ways of bringing their demands into the political arena. The chapter focuses on the Workers Advice Center which made a partially-successful move from NGO to classic union, and on Kav Laoved, a workers’ rights organization. It suggests that such organizations reflect a change in the nature of labor representation as elected representatives are replaced by “experts in the field” and a focus on advancing case law through targeted legal struggle and lobbying – a transformation that has engendered representative organizations with hybrid identities.Less

Labor Representation outside Union Structures

Jonathan Preminger

Published in print: 2018-04-15

The first of five chapters which address the third sphere, organized labor’s relationship to the wider political community, Chapter 11 explores the development of labor representation outside classic union structures. Following the weakening of organized labor’s links to political parties and the influx of groups of workers who have no historical ties with the political establishment and in some cases are not even citizens, workers are finding new ways of bringing their demands into the political arena. The chapter focuses on the Workers Advice Center which made a partially-successful move from NGO to classic union, and on Kav Laoved, a workers’ rights organization. It suggests that such organizations reflect a change in the nature of labor representation as elected representatives are replaced by “experts in the field” and a focus on advancing case law through targeted legal struggle and lobbying – a transformation that has engendered representative organizations with hybrid identities.